A Healed Hole In The Heart
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: As the bone started to eat away inside him, Obito thought how ironic it was that he felt no pain. His body was dying; withering away and his organs disintegrating into dust, and yet, he didn't feel agonizing pain flowing through him. And he would at last be at peace. Rin… He thought as a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. I'll see you again. Spoilers for chapters 686 and 687.


_A Healed Hole In The Heart_

As the bone started to eat away inside him, Obito thought how ironic it was that he felt no pain. His body was dying; withering away and his organs disintegrate into dust, and yet, he didn't feel agonizing pain flowing through him. After all he had done, his death would be painless. And he would at last be at peace. _Rin… _He thought as a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. _I'll…get to see you again. _The pain and suffering he had caused the world had started with her death. He remembered of how his heart had ceased to beat when he witnessed Kakashi carve his Raikiri into Rin's chest.

The agony and despair and grief had almost destroyed him. And it would have, if he hadn't slaughtered all of those Kirigakure shinobi. He would have fallen into a bottomless pit of despair and nothingness if he hadn't focused on inheriting Madara's will. The Eye of the Moon Plan had been his salvation. Obito now wondered if it would have been better if he had died then. None of this, this war, this sorrow, and this _pain_, would have come to pass if he had just ended his life. _Too late for any regrets, _Obito thought as Kakashi's agonized face flashed though his mind. _I have made my choice. _

Obito had thought the Infinite Tsukuyomi would save the world. He had seen death and more destruction around him after Madara departed from this world. Countless shinobi and kunoichi had died in the Third Shinobi World War, as had many others in the previous wars. Loved ones had died to protect those precious to them. Madara had lost his little brother Izuna to the Senju. People who died for a war that sought for peace. It was at that time that Obito learned the truth about Rin's death. He wasn't angry. Obito was passed anger at that time. Instead, the truth of Rin's death – that she had sacrificed herself in order to save the village – only provided him with more will to act upon the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

He realized what had Madara had told him when he was an innocent, naive boy. There would always be darkness. No matter the time, there would always be darkness no matter the light. Peace was just a foolish illusion. Madara had told him there could be a world of only peace, a world of only love. Obito would create such a world. _Rin…Yahiko…Izuna…Mahiru… Hanako…Michiru…Kyusuke…Akira…Yuuto…and all of the dead since the beginning of this world…I will create a world where you live again. _

Two years after last seeing each other, Obito encountered Nagato once again, who had told him what he already knew. Yahiko had died during the war, and the now-immobile shinobi allowed Obito to do as he pleased with the Akatsuki. Shortly after on October tenth, Obito attempted to destroy Konohagakure, but the plan was foiled by his former _sensei_, where Namikaze Minato and his wife Uzumaki Kushina died to protect their newly born jinchuukiri son.

Over the next seventeen years, Obito continued to watch over the failed world. Many died. Many suffered. Obito was aware of several times he could have launched the Eye of the Moon Plan, but he remained patient. The scars of Rin's death did not fade. It became a hole in his heart. A hole that never healed. The fragile "peace" that had been established since the Third Shinobi World War had almost shattered by the Uchiha coup.

The quiet child Obito had known, Uchiha Itachi, was the only one foolish enough to believe that he was committing an act of peace. Obito had watched silently, as he stood on the bodies of his former clansmen, as Itachi shed tears as he killed his own parents. The masked man disappeared into the night, but not before a flicker of hatred in Itachi's little brother's eyes before he fell into unconsciousness.

Events started to gather speed once Uzumaki Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy. Twelve years had passed since the Nine-Tails attack on Konohagakure, and Obito was surprised to find no hatred in the son of his former master. He would have thought that Naruto would inherit his will once he had experienced pain and agonizing loneliness, but he had been wrong. _With time, he'll know, _Obito thought quietly.

When Uchiha Sasuke left the village in order to kill his brother, Obito thought that Naruto would succumb to hatred and despair then. He had lost his most important person to him, but yet Naruto still believed in his foolish dreams and the despair called hope. Two and a half years later, Obito disguised himself as a weak helpless fool who wanted to join the infamous Akatsuki.

_It'll be more interesting this way, _was Obito's thought as he steadily became bored with Uzumaki Naruto's optimism. If the man was honest with himself, he would have admitted that he enjoyed being Tobi. The stupid, young, and useless shinobi he was supposed to be reminded him of his former self…and Deidara reminded Obito of the relationship he had with Kakashi. Deidara constantly told Tobi off and screamed at him often enough. Obito vaguely wondered if their relationship and banter would still be like this if he hadn't "died."

_Whether he lives or dies, Kakashi and I can be whatever we want each other to be. _When Deidara died at the hands of Uchiha Sasuke, Obito would have been lying if he had said that he hadn't paused for a moment. Deidara had been the closest thing to a companion that Obito had encountered in his fifteen years of solitude. He was not Rin though. Obito still ached for her. He missed her. He couldn't wait to hold her in her arms again.

Then Nagato had invaded Konohagakure and Sasuke infiltrated the Five Kage Summit. It was the right moment. Obito attempted to reason with the five Kages. They had seen the pain of war and suffering first hand, had seen their families and friends die before their very eyes. Obito thought that they would have complied with his conditions. What ignorant fools they turned out to be. Obito had only felt serenity take over him as his mask shattered. Now they could see his face. Now they could see his pain, and what everyone else on the world would go through. Obito thought he had almost gathered Naruto to his side when one of his comrades had been killed by him. Obito still heard his words in his ears. But then, someone as close to Naruto as he was close to Rin spoke to the wavering shinobi.

"_Your words and desire to not let your comrades die… Neither of them are lies! What inspired Neji and carried him this far were those very principles! It's not just you, Naruto… we __all__ hold those same words and feelings within our hearts. They're what bind our lives together and make us comrades. If we all give up and discard those words and feelings now, Neji's sacrifice will have been for nothing… And __that__ is when your comrades truly die, for you are no longer comrades then. That's how I feel…" _

From her words, Naruto's will had remained firm. Obito's will began to shatter. He began to think about what he had done those seventeen years. What was his goal now that he heard her words? _Why…am I thinking of this?_ Obito thought as Naruto and Sasuke were attacking him side by side. _Why…am I dreaming about becoming Hokage…? Rin's not there. Rin is… _Obito's will, the will that had sustained him for seventeen long years shattered into nothingness. When Naruto began to talk to him through his subconsciousness, Obito understood that there was no help for him. He had already done too much to be forgiven. He was what everyone in the world thought of him. A monster. A criminal. Someone not deserving to live.

"_In the shinobi world, those who violate the rules and laws are lower than garbage. However…those who do not treasure their comrades are even lower than that! And those who don't cherish their comrades' memory…are exponentially lower than that." You're right, Kakashi. I'm… _

Naruto had proven him wrong once again. Now as his felt his body wither away, Obito felt himself smiling once again. _I had a good life, _Obito thought to himself. Pieces of his skin fell away. _I will see you again, Rin. The reason… _he thought as his feet began to crack and as holes started to appear. _I failed was because…I couldn't accept that you died. I couldn't see reality. I couldn't see what was right in front of me. I'm sorry, Rin. I couldn't be…the Hokage you believed myself to be. _Obito felt his body slowly crumbling away. He saw the tears that his former enemy was shedding for him. _So peaceful…almost like I'm falling asleep. _Obito parted his final words to Naruto, smiling at the end as he died.

Obito was stunned when he felt himself wake up. He was in his thirteen year old body again, wearing his goggles and his forehead protector. His breath eased out of him calmly. His obsidian eyes widened as he saw Rin in front of him. _Together…again. _He couldn't take her hand. She must be so ashamed of him. Obito was shocked therefore when Rin told him that he did his best. She took his hand in his own. _"I've been watching…always…!" _Naruto was wrong when he had said that Rin didn't want to watch over the Juubi Jinchuukiri. Rin…was special, as Obito always knew from the moment he fell in love with her. _She's…always…watched over me… _Obito thought as tears started to blur his eyes. _…Always. _When Rin took his hand in her own, Obito didn't look back.

_It's alright now. I don't have a hole in my heart anymore._


End file.
